It feels inevitable that the Vancouver Canucks will trade star center J.T. Miller in the coming days. Today, we look at what a potential Miller trade package could look like using some of the rumored contenders for him.
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The Jack Eichel trade between Buffalo and Vegas is the deal we’re going to use as a comparable to set a precedent for a possible Miller deal.
The Eichel trade, like with Miller, was one with complicated circumstances. Eichel was a premium young center, with a lot of term on his deal, but had rubbed his team the wrong way and had significant health concerns. Miller is older and not quite at Eichel’s level, but has term, doesn’t have the health risks and has also likely worn out his welcome.
Eichel returned a good, not great prospect at the time in Peyton Krebs along with an established above-average regular with term in Alex Tuch, a first-round pick and a second-round pick in the following year’s draft, with Buffalo having to give back a third. Using that trade as precedent, here are the prospects the Canucks could target in trades with Carolina, Dallas, New Jersey and the Rangers.
Carolina Hurricanes: LW Nikita Artamonov
Also in package: C Jesperi Kotkaniemi, 2025 first-round pick, 2026 second-round pick
Miller would be an ideal fit on Carolina’s center depth chart. Kotkaniemi is a good player but hasn’t developed as hoped in part due to his so-so skating stride. If the Hurricanes include an NHL player of moderate value like Kotkaniemi in the package, they could also put in Artamonov. The 19-year-old winger is small but is having an excellent year in Russia and has middle-six potential due to his speed, skill and vision.
Dallas Stars: LHD Lian Bichsel
Also in package: LW Mason Marchment, 2025 first-round pick, 2025 third-round pick
Dallas’ prospect pool is light. I don’t think Emil Hemming or Mavrik Bourque are that interesting to teams currently and I imagine any deal involving Logan Stankoven is a hard no, so we go to Bichsel. He’s looked quite good this year in North America. He’s a big, mobile, physical defenseman who lacks offense but has top-four upside. Finding a roster player who makes sense for Dallas is difficult. Marchment is a big winger with some scoring touch but he’s heavy-footed and doesn’t have a ton of term left.
New Jersey Devils: RHD Seamus Casey
Also in package: LHD Jonas Siegenthaler, 2025 third-round pick, 2026 first-round pick
New Jersey is operating from a position of strength in terms of its organizational defensive depth. Simon Nemec, the 2022 No. 2 pick, is also a potential candidate here but the Devils could sell high on Casey, who’s looked good in his first pro season, giving Nemec a clearer path to the NHL. Casey projects as a No. 4/5 defenseman who can run a power play. The Devils don’t have their first-rounder this year, so the high-pick part of the package would be in 2026.
New York Rangers: LW Brennan Othmann and RHD Braden Schneider
Also in package: 2027 first-round pick, 2025 third-round pick
The Rangers getting Miller back will be tricky. They don’t have a ton of players on their roster who are reasonably young and have term they would be willing to trade. Thus, they grimace and include Schneider in the deal. He lacks skill but his skating and compete level could make him a legit long-term second-pair defender. Othmann has skill and physicality, but he’s been hurt and scouts have some concerns about how his skating will hold up versus NHLers. He projects as a middle-six winger. The Rangers sending Vancouver two recent first-round picks leads to them punting the premium draft pick part of the trade to 2027.
(Photos of Brennan Othmann and Seamus Casey: Luke Hales and Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
